Temporal Storm
by Our Lady of Zombies
Summary: Cloud gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth, then all hell brakes loose. The next thing Cloud knows, he's in the infirmary in Balamb Garden. He doesn't know that a certain dormant Sorceress is looking for a means to regain her powers and use Rinoa for a host. Her power source being the one person not from their world and infused with Mako.
1. Prolouge

Temporal Storms

Prologue

Though the cold winds from outside the northern crater could be heard crying, it was a chill of another kind inside its depths. Events were unfolding that would mean the end of the world. The stage had been set, and the audience watched on with mixed emotions. A scientist watched on enraptured by what he thought was the proof of his hypothesis. A young woman watched in fear and sadness as what she knew was a death sentence to the world was going on in front of her. A burly dark skinned man watched the man he had once hired, the man he had been following as his leader; give away the object that would mean the end of their world. A red wolf like creature watched as the man who once helped save him, was now making sure that they were all doomed. Two others, a woman in a revealing red dress and a man in a white business suit watched on in confusion as the man they knew as their enemy gave the object to what looked like a large block of ice with half a figure in it. Everyone's blood ran cold as the crater started to shake; the object accepted by the figure inside the ice accepted the gift from blond haired man who had once been regarded as companion, leader, childhood friend, and enemy.

"Cloud! NO!" the young woman screamed.

It was too late though. The damage was done, and all that was left to do was to run. As the group ran from the area to safety, blue light shot up and engulfed the man called Cloud, the ice cube like object, and the half of figure inside. Safely bored an airship, the young woman, the burly man, and the red wolf watched as all hell broke loose from the center of the crater. Blue light shot from it as large monsters were awoken and set free upon the world. One nearly hit the airship causing the young woman to be knocked unconscious and to the hard floor. The burly man ran to her side as the wolf and several others continued to watch.

"By the Planet…." The wolf breathed. "…..we were following a mad man."

A light breeze made the curtains in the room flutter lazily. Although the sounds of gulls could be heard, the wind had that hint of fall that was just starting to take over the world. The only thing that was disturbing this peaceful scene was a low constant beep from a machine in the room. Monitors and IV bags were hooked to a patient in the infirmary keeping a constant vigil on his recovery, or almost lack thereof. The recovery would have been a lot faster and smoother if Dr. Kadowaki knew what her patient was suffering from. As it were, he had been brought in one storming afternoon, wearing strange foreign clothes with a little armor, and dripping wet. At first the doctor thought it was because of the storm. That the poor man had gotten caught out in it, but then she saw that there was something odd mixed with the water dripping from him, something almost a florescent green. She thought it may be poison at first, but that made no sense, so she took a sample from his clothes after they had been stripped from him.

The same substance seemed to be in the man's blood as well. She was shocked by this and almost had the thought that this patient wasn't human. That couldn't be the case though. He didn't look like anything else but human. Could he be a hybrid maybe? She checked these samples against other known species in the data bases and found nothing like it.

She came to the conclusion that she had never seen this substance before and would have to check other sources. So she had checked books from the library of the academy, but still found nothing. Completely puzzled, she sent the samples to another doctor. One in Esthar who might could help. That had been almost a week ago and she had still heard nothing back from him.

The strange substance along with the clothes and armor were not the only things odd about this patient. His hair was a golden blonde that stuck up at odd angles on his head looking a little like the back end of a chocobo. His eyes though were all together a different story. Being a doctor, she had checked them when he first come in and had been taken aback. They were glowing an odd bright blue. She had noticed it a little at first, but one night when a nurse had been making her rounds to check on the patient, the silly girl had screamed and drops the clip board she had been holding. Thinking that a monster had broken into her infirmary, Dr. Kadowaki had run in and gasped. The patient had opened his eyes in the pitch dark room and they were shining like two orb shaped glow sticks. She was reminded of a cat's eyes at night though these were not slit and not gold or green, but blue and a bit brighter.

Dr. Kadowaki had ushered the nurse from the room and told her to keep the glowing eyes to herself. The last thing she needed was a bunch of students coming around the check out the new patient. After the event though, she herself had gone to tell Commander Leonheart of the strange patient and his condition. The young commander seemed disinterested in it all, not that that was out of his character, but told the doctor to continue to keep a close eye on the patient. Not that the doctor had to be told that. She had continued to take care of the strange man to this day, almost a week since he had been found.

He had not moved, nor had he spoken. He would only open his eyes now and then and stair off into nothingness. Dr. Kadowaki figured the poor man must have been catatonic from whatever ordeal he had faced. She had tried a number of times to communicate with him to no avail. She didn't give up though. She would continue to try and get him to say something to her. She would speak when she come in to check on him, commenting on the weather or some events from the news papers. Anything that might rouse the young man.

Today was no different. She come in and smiled as she noticed his eyes were open. She walked over to check the monitors as she commented on how it was getting chilly and she would soon have to start closing his window so he wouldn't catch cold. She then walked over to him to check his vitals, first reaching for his wrist to check his pulse. She nearly jumped to the ceiling when he moved his arm away quickly to grab her by her own wrist, causing her to gasp.

"Wh…who are you…?" he asked with a horse and shaky voice.

"Oh my…Sir…you're in….an infirmary…" she said as she tried to pull free.

For a man who had been in a catatonic state for almost a week, he was strong. She felt like her wrist was about to fracture under his grip.

"In…..firm….ary…" he murmured, but didn't let go of the doctor.

"Yes….could you…maybe please…..let go?" she asked.

He immediately let go of her wrist. Dr. Kadowaki heaved a sigh of relief and rubbed her now sore appendage. She looked the patient up and down. For someone who was a little on the thin side, the man was strong. Given her stockier form, she figured if worse come to worse she would have been able to easily handle this frail patient by herself. She saw differently now. She would have to remember that and let the commander know.

"Sir, what is your name?" she asked as she picked up her clip board from the table where she had set it before she had tried to check his vitals.

"Name?" he asked. "I…I don't…"

He suddenly put a hand to his forehead as if in great pain. After a moment though, he dropped his hand back to his side on the bed.

"I don't have one. Experiments don't get names. Failed experiments don't even get a number." He said in an almost flat monotone voice.

"What?" Dr. Kadowaki asked in a bit of surprise. "Surely someone has called you by some name."

She felt pity for this man who didn't even have a name. She watched him as he appeared to be trying to think back. He then looked at her and sighed.

"That girl…..she called me Cloud." He finally said.

"What girl?" she asked curiously as she wrote the name down on her clipboard.

"It doesn't matter." He murmured. "I couldn't be her Cloud. I was just an experiment created five years ago from Jenova cells and Mako. The Jenova cells merged with that girl's memories to create me. That's what Professor Hojo and Sephiroth said right before….before….."

He put his hand back to his forehead in pain once more.

"It's alright. Don't push yourself. You should just rest for now. I'm going to be right outside this room if you need me." She said with a polite smile.

She tried not to look like she was fleeing the room although that was exactly what she was doing. This man with the strange eyes, he was completely insane. She was not equipped to care for the mentally ill. She would have to talk to Commander Leonheart at once and let him know this new strange twist of events. She told the nurse on duty to keep an eye on the patient, but to not enter the room unless absolutely necessary. The last thing Dr. Kadowaki needed was a hostage situation. With that taken care of, she hurried to the commander's office.

The Sorceress had been defeated not too long ago. Time had gone back to the way things were meant to be. Humanity was getting on with their lives. They thought she was dead. Long gone and with no way to bother them. They were wrong. Did they think her foolish enough to try and not break the cycle she was caught in? Did they think she didn't have a backup plan? She had made sure that at least this tiny bit of her remained in this world. If she had control of the body she resided in, she would have laughed. For now she just lay in an almost dormant state, watching events through her host's eyes. She was waiting for a chance to take control and regain her power. It looked like she may have to wait an eternity. The bubbly host she had didn't seem to know what sadness and grief was anymore. Since the sorceress' demise, the host acted as if everything was perfect. Why shouldn't she? She was free from the Sorceress' control, she had the young commander as her lover and practically wrapped around her little finger, and she had many friends she could talk to. The host's life was in a sense perfect. It made the Sorceress sick. She needed a source of power. Something that could give her the boost she needed to once more gain control of her host like she had before. As she brooded inside her host, she suddenly felt a small tug. Something powerful and ancient was calling out to her. Something that felt very similar to her. She had to know what it was. She wanted whatever it was. It could be the key to helping her regain her power and becoming whole once more. If only her host would investigate for her. Too bad the bubbly woman didn't seem to even notice.

"Be careful, Rinoa." Selphie called as she ran with her two companions through the training grounds.

Selphie was a young woman with a nice build and wearing a short yellow skirted outfit. She had short red hair that was flipped up at the sides and back. In her hands she carried a set of nunchucks that she kept ready at all times. Running next to her was another woman with blonde hair pinned up, but with a long strand down on each side of her face. She wore a red top with black gloves that reached her shoulders. She also wore a red skirt over a pair of black pants with black high heeled boots. She carried a long chain whip ready to strike out at any monster that tried to attack. Then there was the woman Selphie had spoken to. Rinoa had long black hair with light brown highlights. She wore a long blue top over a black tank top and a blue skirt over a pair of black shorts. On her wrist was a strange weapon that looked like a cross bow of sorts.

"Don't worry about me, Selphie. Watch your own back." She said with a giggle.

The women were training, but they were still having a good time with it. These monsters here didn't seem like anything compared to Ultimecia. Still, in case another crisis comes along, they wanted to be in shape. That and Selphie and the other woman, Quistis, were members of SeeD, the elite mercenary group that were trained here in Balamb Garden. There were other gardens, but only Balamb held the tests that would let students graduate into SeeD members.

Selphie cut down a few more monsters while Quistis took a break to watch the two younger women. She could admire how their skill had grown since before the battle with the sorceress. They were both formidable allies even if Rinoa wasn't a SeeD. While she stood lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice the monster coming up behind Rinoa. Selphie and Rinoa were also busy joking around with one another and having a good time to notice it either. When Quistis finally did notice the Grand Mantis, she got her weapon ready, but knew she'd risk hitting Rinoa with it.

"Rinoa! Watch out!" she shouted.

The Grand Mantis struck before Rinoa could react and cut the young woman's arm. She cried out in pain while Selphie quickly moved around her friend to bash the monster's head in. Once she was sure it would never move again, she turned and looked at Rinoa.

"Oh my god! Are you alright!?" she exclaimed.

"I…I think I will be. You don't happen to have a cure junctioned, would you?" Rinoa asked sheepishly.

"Ooopsie…" Selphie said with a blush as she rubbed the back of her head and stuck out her tongue a little. "I totally forgot."

"You come to the training center and didn't junction curative magic? What about a potion?" Quistis asked.

Even though the older woman was no longer an instructor, she still tended to instruct the others from time to time. It annoyed her that such a basic need had been ignored by Selphie. She quickly had to swallow her words when she noticed that she too must have forgotten.

"Never mind. We'll just run over to the infirmary." She said smiling.

"You didn't bring any either, did you Quisty?" Selphie asked with a smug grin.

Quistis said nothing as she led the other two women from the training center. She couldn't help but smile though as she heard them both laughing.

Next Chapter 1: Strange Meetings


	2. Strange Meetings

**Temporal Storm**

**Chapter 1**

**Strange Meetings**

The strange feeling come over Rinoa when she first walked into the infirmary. A feeling like she had drunk too much coffee or maybe one too many sodas. She stopped walking and looked around for a moment to see if there was anything odd about her surroundings, but found nothing. She then looked at her two companions.

"Do you guys feel…..jittery?" she asked.

"No. Why?" Selphie asked as she looked at her dark haired friend.

"I don't know. It seems like as soon as I walked in here, I felt jittery. Maybe it's just my imagination." She said as she shook her head.

"Don't worry! Quisty and I are here with you! And I'm sure that if it's a needle you're worried about, it won't be as bad as you think and you can hold my hand!" Selphie said grinning now.

"I'm not afraid of….." she started, but was cut off as Dr. Kadowaki and a young man walked into the infirmary.

The young man wore a black bomber jacket with white trim fur around the neck. The jacket didn't go all the way down so his white undershirt showed some. He wore a black pair of pants to match the jacket along with black boots. He had brown hair that almost hid the scar that ran from the right side of his forehead, down across his nose and slightly to the left of it. His steel blue eyes held no humor giving him a look that he didn't take any kind of crap from anyone.

"Squall!" Selphie said with a smile and a wave.

"Commander." Quistis said with a slight nod.

"Whatever…" the young man said as he shook his head.

He hated when Quistis called him that. After all, she had been his instructor not too long ago. He took his attention off of his former instructor and looked at Rinoa.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" he asked.

Rinoa didn't even get time to answer before Squall saw her arm that had been injured by the Grand Mantis.

"What happened?" he asked as he moved closer to her and took a look at her arm.

"It's nothing, Squall. Really. Just an accident while training with Quistis and Selphie." She said with a small wince as he took a hold of her arm.

"You didn't have a cure or any potions with you?" he asked.

When he got no answer from Rinoa but a blush, he looked at Quistis and Selphie who gave him about the same answer.

"Be more careful." He said with a sigh. "Please."

Rinoa smiled and nodded. She was happy she had gotten off with such a light reprimand. The please had even made her happier coming from the ever so serious and antisocial commander. She had the urge to throw her arms around his neck right then and there, but decided to wait a while. It wouldn't be proper, even if she did know that he wouldn't object too strongly. Everyone knew they were a couple, but she knew that they still needed to keep things professional when meeting in areas such as this. It wouldn't be right to just up and tackle hug him every time they crossed paths. Besides, it looked like he had come here for a reason other than his own health. He was here on business and she'd have to wait till later to have some time with him.

"So…what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here to see about the man that was brought in about a week ago." He answered.

Dr. Kadowaki motioned for Rinoa to step over to her. Once Rinoa was close, the doctor took a look at her wound.

"Yes. This is minor. A cure will have it fixed quickly." She said before casting a cure on the wound herself. "You're lucky it wasn't something like with Squall's face, or worse. Otherwise I may have had to use stitches."

"_Did we really need to go there?" _Squall thought to himself.

"Where is this guy anyway?" he asked.

"Over in that first room." Dr. Kadowaki said.

"Ooooooo! I want to see him!" Selphie exclaimed. "I've heard all kinds of rumors! Like, like, his eyes glow in the dark!"

"I see the nurses aren't listening when I tell them not to go saying things." Dr. Kadowaki said as she shot a glare at the nurse's station.

The nurse there quickly got busy acting as if she were typing information into the computers. Dr. Kadowaki just shook her head, and then looked at Squall.

"It's up to you if you want Selphie and Quistis to see him." She said.

"Me too!" Rinoa quipped.

"Of course, Rinoa too." Dr. Kadowaki added with a chuckle.

"_This isn't a circus." _Squall thought to himself.

"Fine. Stay alert though. Dr. Kadowaki thinks he may be mentally unstable." He said instead.

He followed Dr. Kadowaki into the room that Cloud had been in for the past week. Squall was followed closely by Rinoa who slipped her hand into his while Selphie and Quistis followed close behind her. Once in the room, Rinoa tightened her grip on Squall's hand. The jittery feeling she had gotten when she first got into the infirmary was now almost tenfold. She felt like she could bounce off the walls. Like energy had just been infused into her from some unseen battery and she could run around the garden a couple of times without getting tired. She put her free hand on Squall's shoulder and peeked over it to get a look at the man in the bed. She gasped at the same time Quistis and Selphie did when they saw his eyes. They were a stunning glowing blue. She was glad they weren't making eye contact or she may have gotten lost in them, they were so empty, and seemed so sad.

The man finally did look at her, just catching sight of her over Squall's shoulder. He tilted his head a little to the side, and then looked back at Squall. Rinoa was almost shaking from her jitters now. She really wanted to get back out of the room, but Quistis and Selphie were blocking her way, and she didn't want to seem rude. So instead, she stood there concentrating on breathing and staying calm.

"I'm Commander Squall Leonheart of Balamb Garden. Dr. Kadowaki has told me a lot about you." Squall said in an authoritative, yet still almost bored tone.

"It's nice to meet you. I guess you can call me Cloud." The man in the hospital bed mumbled.

"Where do you come from, Cloud?" Squall asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm from…." Cloud stopped a moment and put a hand to his head as a look of pain crossed his face. "…from Nibelheim. I was created in a lab in Nibelheim."

"Where is Nibelheim?" Squall asked.

"The western continent." Cloud answered as he dropped his hand back to his side.

"Like, Galbadia?" Selphie asked.

"Galbadia? I've never heard of that. Nibelheim is on the Western Continent, at the base of Mt. Nibel. You go over the mountains and end up at Icicle Inn." He explained.

"I've never heard of any of those places, but we'll check it out." Squall said flatly. "Dr. Kadowaki says that you seem to think you were created five years ago by a scientist."

"I don't think it. I know it's true. Professer Hojo said so." Cloud said as he looked at Squall.

"Who is Profressor Hojo?" Dr Kadowaki asked.

"He's the top scientist for Shinra." Cloud responded.

"Who's Shinra?" Squall asked in turn.

At this Cloud looked shocked. He looked to the doctor, then to the others in the room. None seemed to be shocked like he was so that meant all of these people didn't know who Shinra was.

"You all are kidding, right? Shinra Electronics Company. The company who runs all of Midgar? The corporation that controls everything? You know, right? The company that created the Mako reactors?" he asked as he continued to look at the other people in the room. "You can't tell me you've never heard of them. They're global."

"_This guy's delusional. I'll have to make some calls." _Squall thought to himself.

"Ok. I guess that's all we can really ask about right now. You should probably get some rest." Squall spoke up instead.

"You don't believe me. I'm not lying. I'm not making it up!" Cloud exclaimed.

This startled the women in the room as it seemed so sudden for the man to go from an almost monotone to a more lively voice in the matter of seconds. They had backed up towards the door while Squall stayed rooted to the spot he was standing.

"No one's said anything about you lying or making it up. I'll make some calls and verify your story. We'll have it figured out soon enough. Just rest." He responded in his own almost monotone.

"Fine." Cloud murmured once again in his regular monotone as he settled back against his pillows.

Squall nodded and turned to leave as the woman quickly made their way out. As Rinoa left the room, her jitters seemed to lessen some. She didn't like this. Whoever, or whatever that man was in the infirmary, he was causing her to feel funny in a bad sort of way. She would wait until she had Squall alone and tell him how she felt.

Later that evening, Cloud sat looking through some magazines that the girl Selphie had brought him. She had said she would have brought some text books and all, but she wasn't sure if he could read having been created five years ago and all. She had then began babbling on and on and for some reason reminded Cloud of a ninja girl he knew, before Dr. Kadowaki come up and told the girl visiting hours were over. Selphie had bid Cloud good night and left while humming cheerfully. Now he looked at some articles in the magazine with confusion. He could read just fine, he figured Professor Hojo didn't need any illiterate experiments, but the articles spoke nothing of Shinra or Midgar even. Everything was about some Sorceress War that had just recently been settled and something about treaties and places called Esther and Galbadia. He had been all over the world just recently. He was sure that that memory was not a lie. He would know these names if they existed in the world. Something here was off.

That brought his thoughts back to something he had been thinking about before Selphie had come in. That girl standing behind the commander, the one dressed in blue and black with black hair. Something felt off about her. Although she looked at him with a little bit of awe and fear, something about her felt like a predator ,watching its prey and getting ready to pounce. It made him very uneasy.

This made him think of his future. He wondered briefly what was to happen to him. Would he be sent back to Midgar or Nibelheim? He wondered if Professor Hojo or Shinra would even want a failed experiment back. If they didn't, what was left for him? He had betrayed his friends by giving the materia to Sephiroth. He was sure none of them would be willing to accept him with open arms, especially not that girl. She would be furious with him for pretending to be "Cloud", even if he didn't know he had been pretending at the time. Thinking about all of this was giving him a headache. It wasn't as bad as they could be, but it still felt like something was hammering at his brain to get free. He sat the magazine aside and lay back against his pillows before closing his eyes. Maybe all he needed was some more rest.

"Anything?" Rinoa asked as she walked into Squall's office.

The young commander sighed and rubbed his thumb and forefinger between his eyes. All of this was giving him a headache.

"Nothing. I've called all over and sent out some messages. All that I've gotten back only leads me to believe either the guy is completely off his rocker, or he's lying. There's nowhere in this world with the names of the towns and cities he's mentioned. I really can't figure out why he would make up such an elaborate lie though, so I'm going with he's insane." He explained to her. "I've gotten a call from Dr. Odine. He said Dr. Kadowaki sent him a sample of some kind of substance on the guy's clothes and in his blood stream. He said he's not sure, and he'd have to test it, but he thinks that the stuff could have made that guy go insane. It could be a strong poison or some other kind of toxin."

"Wow." Was all Rinoa could say once Squall was finished explaining things to her. "When will he have the tests back?"

"There's no telling. Until then, we could take Cloud to Esthar and let Dr. Odine deal with him." Squall murmured.

"That's a good idea. He bothers me. He makes me feel uneasy. When I walked in to the infirmary I felt a little jittery. Then once I went into his room, I was completely jittery. I felt like I could bounce right out of my skin. It wasn't pleasant. I don't mean to be cruel, but I'll be glad when he's gone." She said as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.

Squall stood and walked around his desk to move to her side. He gently put his hands on her arms and rubbed them a little.

"Don't worry. I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let anyone hurt you." He said with a very small reassuring smile.

Rinoa beamed up at him and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. Squall pulled her close against him by putting his arms around her waist. As he moved a hand up to stroke her hair, she nuzzled his chest a little. This was all she needed to feel much better. In his arms she felt safe and sound. She knew nothing could get to her without first having to go through her knight.

"Come on. Let's call it a night." She murmured.

She didn't see as his smile grew a little bigger and he nodded.

Finally the bubbly host was asleep. The sorceress checked to make sure that her host was out enough that she wouldn't be able to block her with her own sorceress abilities. Seeing that the light mental nudges were going unnoticed, she quickly took her chance and took over the body she had been lying dormant in. She only had enough energy to get to the infirmary and back to the energy source. This meant she'd have to take over the host and hopefully get the girl on her feet and moving to the door and down the hall. She was careful not to wake the man lying next to her as she got out of the bed. Once that was accomplished, she lumbered over towards the door and opened it as quietly as she could. She grinned using her host's face as the door opened just right. She then left the room and closed the door. This left her with having to get down the hall and to the infirmary. She wasn't happy that she had gotten unaccustomed to walking and was more shuffling down the hall and holding the wall for support. She just hoped that no one would meet her in the hall way.

What felt like an agonizing eternity later; she made it to the infirmary. She had only almost been spotted once, but luckily she had been at a place where she could hide down another hallway for the person to pass by. She had waited till the cost was clear before continuing. Now she was at the door to the infirmary. She carefully pushed the door open and looked around for any nurses. Seeing that the cost was clear, she started towards the room where her power source was resting. She reached her hand out for the knob just as a nurse come around the corner.

"Ms. Heartilly, what are you doing here?" the woman asked.

The sorceress cursed under her breath before turning and pointing a hand at the nurse. A moment later, the nurse hit the floor sound asleep. The spell took its toll on her, but she turned the knob and handed on into the room. She closed the door behind her and leaned on it tiredly. When she had entered the infirmary, she had felt that energizing power giving her a boost. Using it to send the nurse to sleep had almost zapped her, but now as she leaned against the door in the room with her energy source, she could feel herself becoming more energized. She took a deep breath and relaxed for a moment. Then licking her lips, or rather her hosts, she moved over to the bed that Cloud lay in. She wondered if being in the room with him caused her to gain energy, what would touching him do? She reached a hand out and ran it up his arm. She felt the difference immediately as power rushed into her.

She almost stumbled back from the rush it caused. Instead, she grabbed his arm tightly. She hadn't expected him to wake up at that moment. His glowing blue eyes coming open and looking right at her. For a moment he just seemed groggy, but as that moment passed, he seemed to see that this person was no nurse.

The sheer night gown she wore almost made him think she was some sort of ghost. He then saw her hair and face and recognized her as the woman who had been standing behind Squall. There was something wrong though. It almost appeared like there was someone else there, another person's image lightly overlapping that one of the woman in front of him.

"What are you doing? What do you want?" he asked as he started to pull away.

This wasn't a good idea as the woman's grip tightened and she held him in place. She leaned down close to him, her mouth hovering over his, and took a deep breath. His eyes grew wide as he gasped in surprise. This only helped the sorceress as a green misty light flew from his mouth to hers. He could feel the stuff coming up his throat and almost gagged on it. A few minutes passed before the woman shut her mouth, stopping the flow of the green mist, and let him go to fall almost limply back against his pillows.

"I don't know what this substance is inside of you, but I like it. I'll need more before I can completely regain my power. I'll let you rest tonight and regain your strength. I can't over use this power; I don't want it to run out." She said as she licked her lips.

She reached down to caress his face. As her hand touched his skin it causes him to shutter then convulse. It was as if the blood inside him started to boil literally. His skin even started to take on a red irritated look. His eyes glazed over and everything took on a green tinge to his eyes. She was somehow causing him to have a reaction to the mako already inside of him, like she had somehow increased it. The machines he was hooked to started to go haywire as his vitals started to act abnormally.

The sorceress growled at the noise from the machine before looking back down at the catatonic Cloud.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Don't worry, when I have regained my powers, I won't forget you. I may keep you around in case I need more of this energy. Who knows what the future holds? Hopefully I will once I compress time." She mused.

With everything said and done, she used her new found energy to sneak from the infirmary unseen and back to her host's room.

Dr. Kadowaki didn't know what had put the patient back into the catatonic state he had not long ago gotten out of, but if she had to guess, it appeared the substance in his blood had somehow caused him to have a seizure. The machines had gone off sometime late the night before. She hadn't been alerted because the nurse on duty had fallen asleep. This was the third strike for this particular nurse and she was let go. Dr. Kadowaki did some tests to make sure there was no lasting damage and was satisfied to see none. Now she'd have to wait for him to once more come out of this state.

She mumbled about the incompetence of her nurse staff as she headed up to Squall's office. She went inside to find him working on a computer while Rinoa sat in a chair close to the window. She was mostly sprawled across it lazily as she looked out the window humming.

"You seem pretty chipper today, Rinoa." Dr. Kadowaki noted.

"I feel really good today. I don't know why. It must have just had a great night's sleep." Rinoa responded smiling.

"Well, that's good." Dr. Kadowaki said with a smile before looking at Squall. "It seems Cloud had a seizure last night. He's back in a catatonic state."

"What?" he asked as he looked up."How did that happen?"

"It seems that the substance in his blood acted up in some way." She answered.

"I was hoping to have him transferred sometime this week." He mumbled. "We're not a medical facility after all."

"I know. Maybe next week if he starts responding again? I just don't want to risk something like another seizure happening while on the road." Dr. Kadowaki said.

"You mean…..he has to stay longer?" Rinoa asked as her good mood started to melt away.

"It looks that way. Well, I better get back. We're a little short handed. I had to let a nurse go." Dr. Kadowaki said with a sigh.

She would bow to the two before then heading back out of the office.

"Longer? Really? Does he have to?" Rinoa asked as she looked at Squall.

"Looks like it. Just stay away from the infirmary, ok?" he said.

She nodded and looked back out the window. He certainly wouldn't have to tell her twice. She planned to stay clear of the infirmary until the strange man with the glowing eyes was long gone.

The sorceress would visit Cloud that night and the next two after that. His health didn't decrease, but he still remained in the catatonic state. It was the third night; while the sorceress had her mouth close to Cloud's that he finally comes out of the catatonic state. He struggled and was able to snatch away from her. As he rolled to the opposite side of the bed that she stood on, he panted, gasped, and gagged before finally laying there for a moment in exhaustion. He could hear a light chuckle from the Sorceress because of course she had let him pull away. He was far too weak to try and fend off or pull away from her on his own.

"It's fine. I think I have enough for now. You still have so very much to give, but I'll let it gather again. I need you alive. Rest up. I'll be back two nights from now." She purred as she reached out to stroke his face.

He snatched back and glared at her which only caused her to chuckle again before leaving the room. He wiped at his mouth as he straightened back up. There was a terrible taste in his mouth from the lifestream like essence that the Sorceress was stealing from him. He didn't know if it was his life energy, or energy from the lifestream that still clung to the mako in his system. Whatever it was, he couldn't let that woman keep doing this. He had to come up with a plan and stop her before she returned.

The next day passed uneventfully for anyone as Cloud pretended to still be in a catatonic state. It wasn't too hard for him to ignore everyone around him as the nurses came and went and the doctor entered a few times talking about news and other things that he wasn't interested in. It seemed like it took forever, but finally night come. He then just had to wait until the infirmary was silent before he tried to move. He first pulled the IV needle from his arm and then the other machines that were hooked to him were pulled off. He then threw the covers back and slowly got out of bed. His head spun when he stood, then the room tilted violently causing his stomach to try and push everything back up his throat. His legs then decided they wanted to be traitors too and dumped him into the floor.

It took a couple of minutes before he was once again standing. He moved towards the door to the room and peeked out of it. A nurse was making her rounds and entering another room. He took his time to quickly, as he could, leave his room and start to look for his clothes and armor. He had to duck behind the nurse's station desk a few times as the nurse continued her rounds. After a while he thought he would never find his belongings until he finally spotted them in a cabinet. He snatched them out and quickly headed back to his room. He knew the nurse would be in soon so he stashed his clothes and gear in a nearby waist basket and got back into the bed.

Lucky for him, the nurses here were students and some were less interested in their job as they were in their teen drama. This particular nurse took a look in his room and saw that nothing seemed off and was about to turn and leave, when she noticed something _was _off. The monitors were turned off. She walked over to check them and noticed that they were not attached to the patient. She was about to turn and go to call for the doctor when a hand grabbed her by the throat. She looked over to see two glowing orbs staring back at her. The grip on her neck was strong when it shouldn't have been. She wasn't going to try and move. This patient couldn't be human. He was a monster and she just knew she was about to die in some horrible fashion. She let out a small noise of fear before fainting away.

Cloud let go of her and watched her drop to the floor like a stone. He took the wires from the monitors and used them to tie her up, then used some medical tape to tape her mouth shut in case she woke up before he could do what needed to be done. He then went to where he had stashed his belongings and quickly got dressed. Wearing his own clothes had him feeling a little better. That feeling quickly died though as he remembered that he wasn't a 1st Class SOILDER. These clothes were just given to him probably by Professor Hojo to cover up. They were nothing but clothing. He groaned and put a hand to his head before shaking it hard. He didn't need to distract himself with that now.

He looked out of the room and made sure there were no more nurses before heading out of the infirmary and on down the hall way. His plan wasn't the best. He had no weapon and no idea where the Sorceress was staying at night. He closed his eyes and tried to feel out for the strange vibe he felt when she was near, the strange little tug that becomes a dramatic snatching sensation when she was close to him. He soon felt it. It was down another hall way. He'd have to be quiet and quick if he wanted to avoid anyone else.

It was slow going and after what felt like hours he was at the door of the room where he could feel the Sorceress' presence the strongest. He opened the door slowly and carefully to keep it from creaking. He then peeked in and saw the woman lying in the bed sleeping. He also saw the commander. This caused him to curse under his breath. The commander being there made things more difficult. He went into the room and closed the door quietly. The two occupants of the bed didn't move. Cloud looked around the room once his eyes adjusted and saw a sword sitting against a table across the room. It wasn't any sword he'd seen before. It looked like a cross between a gun and a sword. He wouldn't need the gun part, but the blade would be useful. He could slay the woman in one quick move. She wouldn't get the chance to cast any of her spells or compress time, or whatever she wanted to do to this world. He had failed at preventing Sephiroth from getting his way, had in fact given him what he needed to do it, but he wasn't going to let this sorceress have her way.

He picked up the weapon, surprised at how light it felt in his grasp, and walked over to the bed. He brought the sword back and over his head as he prepared to strike. It was his turn to be surprised as the sorceress opened her eyes. She looked up at Cloud in fear, her voice catching in her throat. He was about to bring the sword like weapon down upon her when a flash of blinding white light in his own head had him staggering back. His vision returned, but it was blurry. He could see a woman in pink and red smiling at him serenely as something black fell towards her from the sky. The woman's kind emerald eyes went wide as a sword sliced through her chest.

Then Cloud heard a scream and he was brought back to the here and now. If it was him that screamed or someone else, he didn't know. He just knew he couldn't do this. He couldn't hurt this girl that was looking at him in abject terror. The air was suddenly and violently knocked from him as he was tackled by the man who had been sleeping until whoever had screamed had woke him up. Cloud hit the floor hard, his head smashing against it and causing his vision to dance. The sword like weapon slid across the floor before stopping near the table it had been against. A fist met his face once before another knocked his face back the other way. A couple more blows finally had darkness over coming him as he went unconscious.

Squall didn't notice that Cloud was unconscious as he punched the man a couple of more times. He stood up, but grabbed the front of Cloud's turtle neck hauling the shorter man up and holding him off the floor with one hand. He drew back his fist to hit the man one more good time, but his arm was grabbed. Squall was about to snatch away when he saw it was Rinoa. She shook her head and Squall dropped Cloud to the floor unceremoniously. He then turned and pulled Rinoa into a tight embrace as she started to sob.

"I…It was like a monster. His eyes…..oh god…they looked….." she babbled between sobs. "We should have…why didn't we go ahead and send him away?! I knew there was something wrong! I knew it!"

Squall stroked her hair and tried to calm her.

"It's alright. He won't hurt you. I'll send him away just as soon as we can get someone to take him. He wont ever come near you again, I swear." He said as he held her.

Once she finally calmed down, he sent her out of the room and to Quistis'. He then called up two of his own friends to help him take Cloud away. There was one place he was going to take this psycho where he couldn't hurt anyone. If Dr. Odine wanted to know more about Cloud or get any more samples, he'd have to visit Cloud in the Desert Prison.

Next: Chapter 2 Criminally Insane


	3. Criminally Insane

**Temporal Storms**

**Chapter 2**

**Criminally Insane**

"Man, it's been a while since we been here. Brings back memories," said a blond headed man who stood outside a crimson air ship.

His bangs were spiked up while the rest of his hair was brushed back. He had a large tattoo on the side of his face. He wore a red and black jacket over a black shirt. He also wore a blue pair of denim shorts and a pair of red and black sneakers.

"Yup. Heh. At least I didn't have to be in one of the cells like you guys did," said his partner with a grin.

This man wore a black cowboy hat and a brown long coat over a purple vest. He also had on a pair of brown pants and dark boots. His light brown hair was tied back in a long pony tail, with long bangs coming from under his hat on each side of his face.

"That's because you were lucky." The blond said as he rolled his eyes.

"Well, yeah I….." he started when he was cut off by someone else.

"Zell, Irvine, less chatting. Let's get this guy inside." Squall said as he walked down the ramp from the air ship.

Cloud was walking in front of him with his hands tied together. Squall was carrying his gunblade across his shoulders in case he needed to use it. The blond, Zell, nodded and headed to the front of the huge prison facility while Irvine, the light brown haired man, pulled his rifle and got in step just behind Cloud and beside Squall.

"Don't worry. This guy try anything, I'll have a bullet in his head before he can even say 'haste'." Irvine said with a smirk.

Squall didn't say anything in response as they entered the building. Inside a man dressed in a uniform and hat walked over to where they were.

"Heh. Never thought I'd see you three back in here. Too bad it's not permanent. You're lucky you all got off so easily." The man said with almost a growl.

"You're still kind of a jerk, huh?" Zell asked.

"Watch your mouth, or I'll see if I can't find a reason for you to spend the night here." The man said.

He then looked at Cloud.

"So this is the prisoner…er…patient?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah. He's shown signs of being mentally ill and tried to kill Rinoa Heartilly." Squall said.

"The General's daughter? He's a mercenary then? I figured that'd make him one of your friends." The man said with a shrug. "Alright, we'll get him booked and admitted, then put him in a cell. You're going to like this, Mr. Leonheart. He's getting your old cell."

"It's not my problem." Squall responded.

Cloud looked over his shoulder at Squall.

"A word of warning. Watch that girl. She's not who you think she is. Not all the time anyway." Cloud warned in his normal tone of voice.

"Shut up." Irvine said as he pushed Cloud a little towards the man they had been talking to.

Cloud stumbled a little, but turned to watch as Irvine, Zell, and Squall left. The man now behind Cloud put a hand on his shoulder.

"We're going to have fun together, you and I." the man said with a sinister sound in his voice.

"Do we have to leave him here? The guards and all here are so…..mean!" Selphie whined.

She was the one piloting Ragnarok, their airship, back to Balamb.

"I'm not going to endanger everyone at the garden by trying to help that guy. There's obviously something very wrong with him. Mean or not, maybe the people at the prison can help him." Squall said.

"You don't believe that! You know better!" Selphie exclaimed back at him.

"We'll see how it goes. We'll come back in about a week or so and check….if it makes you feel any better." He muttered grudgingly.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Ok." Selphie said with a cheerful nod before focusing back on flying the airship.

"_Maybe the guards and all there are better than they were when we were there. After all, they've got a ward for taking care of the mentally ill. I'm sure they wouldn't treat anyone too badly. What am I even worried about. I don't even like that guy. He almost killed Rinoa." _Squall thought to himself as he sat down to watch out the nearest window.

Cloud didn't like the look of his "cell" as soon as he saw it. It was nothing more than a large metal box just high enough to stand up in and long enough to fit a small cot in and a hole towards one end and in the corner for a toilet. When he stepped into it, it seemed the real nightmare of the thing began. It moved. No way of knowing that it would, he staggered and fell onto the bed and against the wall. He felt what little contents he had in his stomach try to come up his throat, but he quickly swallowed it back down. He didn't know why he felt so violently ill. He'd never had motion sickness that he could remember. The motorcycle ride from midgar, the car ride from Golden Saucer, all small moving vehicles and he'd been just fine. Now he felt like all his guts were going to have a race back up his throat and out his mouth.

He dry heaved a little as drool come down the side of his mouth. He wiped it away and dug his fingers into the cot hoping and praying this would end soon. It did with an abrupt jerk that sent him against the wall at the head of the cot. He moaned and just lay there trying to regain control of himself. After a moment he slowly stood and walked to the door. There was no window there for him to look out of. In fact, there was no window in his cell at all. There was nothing to look at, just four walls, the cot, and the hole in the floor in the corner.

The guards he left him his SOLDIER uniform mostly intact excluding his metal shoulder armor and his bracers. They didn't want him to have anything that could potentially be used as a weapon. Looking back, bludgeoning the guards with those items and trying to make a run for it might have been better than being stuck in this metal box. He shook his head at that thought and sat on the cot. Nothing to do now but wait and see what they would do to him now.

Moments passed as he waited quietly. Just when he was about to stretch out on the cot, a strange crackling noise started up to his left. He looked in that direction and saw electricity crackling in the air before what looked like black feather started to appear. He stood up slowly as he watched the scene before him, and got into a stance. After a minute or two, a figure appeared. It was a tall woman with oddly styled hair sticking out and up at either side of her head. She wore a very revealing red dress that dipped in a V past her navel and opened from the bottom up to a few inches below her crotch. She had strange tattoo marks over most of her visible skin and some on her face. Her hands were covered in red and purplish gloves that ended in long cruel looking clawed fingers. Two black wings were protruding from her back and feathers lined the edges of her dress at the top.

Cloud didn't recognize this woman, but the feeling from her was the all too familiar feeling he had been getting from the woman back at the garden. He backed away a little more from her, getting a smirk out of the strange woman. Her golden eyes seemed to have a spark of delight in them like she enjoyed his discomfort.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You tried to kill me." The woman responded.

"What?" he asked as he gave her a confused look.

"Well, not me per say. You tried to kill my host." The woman answered.

"You….this is your true form then." He said, still not moving from his spot.

"Yes. You're a little ruthless, aren't you? You almost killed an innocent woman to try and get rid of me." She said with a chuckle as she started to move towards him.

"I had no way of knowing she was innocent. I though….I thought she was dangerous. I didn't know she was being used." He growled as he started to move back from her.

"That may be true, but you're the dangerous one. It's good you are here, locked away. You won't be able to harm my host, and I can come and take what I need from you without you being able to run away." The woman said as she smirked just a little. "I plan to make sure they keep you here."

"What are you going to do?" he asked just as his back hit the wall, he'd run out of room to move in the small cell.

"You'll see." She said with a grin as she closed the short distance between them.

She grabbed his face at his jaw and pulled him close. She then began to suck out more of the power she needed from him. After a full two minutes she let go of him and he fell forwards against her. His face just inches from being in her cleavage. She stroked his hair for a moment and was silent as if thinking.

"Yes. I have plans to keep you where I need you long enough to finish what I must do." She murmured.

She then disappeared in a flurry of crackling light and black feathers, leaving Cloud to fall to the floor where he lay until later that evening when some guards delivered a small nasty looking meal.

"What's wrong with him?" one guard asked.

"Hm. Probably nothing. I heard him talking to himself while ago. This one's a real nutcase." The other shrugged as he left the tray of food at the door before closing it. "I'm not paid enough to care."

The putrid smell of the food was enough to wake Cloud up. He moved away from it on his hands and knees before sitting against the far wall. He took a few breaths before calling out to the guards trying to get their attention. No one answered for a while, and Cloud continued to sit quietly against the wall.

He was dozing some when the door opened again. A man in a white lab coat stepped in, kicking the tray of "food" under the cot as he did. The man looked at Cloud, then at his clip board.

"Mr…..Cloud Strife, my, what a strange name you have." The doctor mumbled. "Anyway, I'm the Psychiatrist here at the D-District Prison. I first need to…"

"I'm not crazy. I don't need your help with that. I need to get out of here. Just a little while ago, this woman….or witch…whatever she is, she come to my room. She's stealing energy from me. Mako energy. I need to stop her before…" Cloud began, but was this time cut off as the Psychiatrist started to chuckle.

"I see several things wrong with that statement, Mr. Strife. Nobody has been to your room except for the guards who delivered you here and then the ones who delivered your food. All of them were male. Another thing is that no one can use magic to get in here. There are barriers up that prevent people from using magic inside this facility." The Psychiatrist explained. "And last of all, this facility is beneath the ground. It sinks when there isn't anyone or anything being delivered or when there isn't anyone changing shifts."

"She was here. I saw her." Cloud said flatly. "I know what I saw."

"I'm sure you do. How long have you been seeing this woman? Is she who you thought you was going after when you tried to kill Ms. Heartilly?" the psychiatrist asked.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the psychiatrist. The man was "playing along" just to find out how long Cloud had been hallucinating. It made Cloud angry. He took a deep breath though before slowly letting it out, then looked at the psychiatrist again.

"I haven't imagined her. She's really been here. She's been coming after me for a while now even at the garden. She's been stealing Mako energy from me to regain her strength. She said something about needing it to gain control over her host." Cloud explained slowly.

"Ms. Heartilly is her host?" the psychiatrist asked.

Cloud nodded and watched the psychiatrist as he scribbled some notes on a clip board. This was making Cloud even angrier.

"I am not crazy. This is all real. This woman is trying to do something to the world. She's trying to…compress it or something. I don't know. I just know that if you don't listen to me, we're all in a lot of danger." He said.

"I see, and getting back to Ms. Heartilly, how do you know that she's this other woman's host?" the psychiatrist asked dismissively of Cloud's warnings.

Cloud almost growled, but it turned into more of a grunt as he pushed himself up to stand. He then stalked over to the Psychiatrist who was distracted with his scribbling to see his patient walking to him. Cloud grabbed the clip board and snatched it from the psychiatrist, causing the man to gasp and look up.

"I'm warning you.." Cloud began.

"Are you threatening me?" the psychiatrist asked as he stood and backed away from Cloud.

"No. I'm trying to warn…" Cloud began, but was once more cut off.

"We can't have this aggression, Mr. Strife." He said in a warning tone.

"I'm not trying…." Cloud started to say as he moved closer to the psychiatrist to be interrupted for the last time as a needle was pushed into his neck and the contents emptied into his blood stream.

Cloud knocked the psychiatrist's hand away and yanked the needle from his neck. He then looked at the other man in surprise. The psychiatrist took the clipboard from Cloud's hand and scribbled some more on it. Cloud fell on the cot as he was starting to feel light headed and dizzy.

"We'll have to keep you on a sedative until you can learn to control your urges. We'll talk when you're more calm, Mr. Strife." The psychiatrist said as he picked the syringe up off the floor where Cloud had dropped it.

He put it in his pocket before looking at Cloud again, then turning and walking from the cell. The room was left in its silent darkness as Cloud sat on the cot, half slumped over against the wall. He felt like a zombie as he stared at the door unable to move and unable to really think at the moment. His eyes finally closed and he fell into darkness.

Everything seemed to go back to normal at the garden after Cloud had been taken away. The students didn't know anything had happened, so they continued as normal anyway. There were new nurses in the infirmary to replace the ones who had been so lax before. Squall had a mountain of paper work for various things including Cloud's imprisonment. Rinoa still did what she could to help Squall and would train from time to time with Selphie and Quistis. Everything was back to normal. That was as far as they knew. Rinoa was oddly full of energy these days and seemed to be growing stronger with her magic. Quistis and Selphie told her how amazed they were with her abilities and the control she displayed. She could only blush and thank them for their kind words. She herself didn't understand how she was getting so good, but figured it was thanks to the training. She felt great, better than ever in fact. Each morning she would wake up almost bouncing off the walls. Each night she would display a playfulness that had even Squall bewildered, but not at all displeased by it. He was use to her being active, she had just gotten more so with time he supposed.

Yes. Everything was normal at the garden and seemed to be getting better. Especially for the sorceress who lay dormant during the day inside her host, letting the woman use small portions of her stored up power she was taking from Cloud. During the nights after the host had exhausted herself with her man and had gone to sleep, the sorceress would use the energy to get back to where Cloud was. The desert prison did indeed have technology that blocked magic, but it didn't seem able to block the magic that the sorceress had gotten from Cloud. This made it easy for her to get in and out. It also made Cloud seem like a raving lunatic every time he tried to tell one of the guards or the psychiatrist about the sorceress' comings and goings. He was sedated a couple of more times after getting frustrated with the guards and the psychiatrist.

The sorceress was also making sure that Cloud was acting out as much as she could. She could delve deep into his mind and see the things even he couldn't remember. Things hidden away by the Mako and the torturous experimentation done on him by Hojo. In his dreams, whether it be at night or while he was sedated, she would give him glimpses of the horrible things done to him in the name of science. Sometimes they were so vivid it was like he was reliving them, or to him, like he was living them. Other times she would have him see glimpses of Aerith or the dark haired man from the picture Sephiroth had showed him at the crater. The man who had really been in the picture in Nibelheim. Cloud couldn't remember his name. Of course the Sorceress knew it. She wasn't about to tell him though. It made it all so much easier for people to think he was crazy when he was on the floor of his cell holding his head in agony. Things were going her way. She just had to keep it that way for a little longer. Once she had enough energy, she'd make her move.

He was in a tank full of green liquid looking out at a man with oily, stringy black hair tied back in a pony tail. The man was looking back at him with a sadistic smirk as he adjusted his glasses and said something to his lab assistant that Cloud couldn't really make out. Everything had that underwater sound to it. He was sure the liquid he was in wasn't water though, it was Mako.

Was this how he was created? Were all clones made like this?

He tried to push against the glass tank but it did him no good. He looked to his right and saw another tank with someone else in it. He squinted and tried to get a better look, but it was no good. He couldn't see the person well enough. He looked back ahead and saw the man with the stringy hair press a button. The liquid in the tank began to drain. Once it was completely empty of the liquid, Cloud found himself slumped against the side of the tank. His limbs wouldn't work for him, and even his head wanted to lull to the side.

Two lab assistants pulled him from the tank and dragged him over to a gurney. Once there they threw him on top of it before stepping aside. The man with the stringy hair walked over and began to examine Cloud closely. He adjusted his glasses and spoke to his assistants. To Cloud's surprise, he still couldn't understand them. It was almost like he was under water again. The voices were going in and out though as was his consciousness. He could see the stringy haired man and his assistants bright as day one moment, and the next he could see the guards of the D-District Pison along with the psychiatrist. This went on for a few moments, and then his weird in and out finally stopped with him back at the stringy haired man's lab.

"P….professor…..Ho…jo…" Cloud slurred out when he looked at the stringy haired man.

Prof. Hojo just grinned in a sadistic manner before talking to his assistants again. He then walked away while the two assistants moved and stripped Cloud down to his underwear as Hojo walked back over with a tray of medical instruments. He drew some blood from Cloud with a syringe and needle, then gave the sample to one of his assistants. After that he picked up a scalpel. This had Cloud's eyes going wide.

"…Jenova cells…see...the organs…" was all Cloud could make out of what Hojo was saying.

It was enough to send a chill down his spine, but the men in the room didn't seem to notice that Cloud had shivered. He watched to see if Hojo would get another syringe. The scientist would have to give him something so he wouldn't be able to feel the pain or so he assumed. He found out he was wrong on that assumption as he felt the cold metal of the scalpel bite into his skin, then slice down into flesh. Cloud gasped from the pain, but otherwise lay still. Hojo moved the scalpel from the top of Cloud's chest down almost to his navel as if he were pulling on a zipper instead of a sharp cutting tool. This action had Cloud cry out in pain, but the professor just continued his work. Hojo pulled the skin away so he could get a better look at the organs hidden within. To keep these from falling back to the sides, he used large heavy pin like tools to pin back the cut flesh. This was also painful and had Cloud screaming.

He was nearly delirious from the pain, but he knew it wasn't over. He forced himself to try and look at Hojo, but this gave him a view of his opened body and he turned his head to vomit. The professor seemed interested in watching Cloud's organs as he did this and taking inventory of everything. He murmured a few things to one of his assistance who scribbled whatever that was down on his clipboard.

Hojo then removed Cloud's gallbladder and appendix, seeing as these was organs that could be taken without it really affecting someone. Of course Cloud was reduced to screaming again from the pain of no anesthetics during these surgeries. He then did some scrapping on other organs to get some samples from them too. After, he unpinned what he had earlier pinned, then put it back where it went. He walked off murmuring to himself as an assistant pulled a cure materia from his pocket and used it to heal the incision wounds and anything else that may have been damaged during Hojo's explorations. After all, Hojo didn't want his specimens dead for his experiment. The pain didn't go away immediately, but once it did, Cloud tried to move.

Hojo was returning and talking to another assistant and didn't notice as Cloud slowly sat up. With strength he didn't think he had after that ordeal, Cloud launched himself from the gurney and slammed his fist right into Hojo's ugly face. Though as soon as his fist met skin, he saw the face change into that of the psychiatrist. He was back in the desert prison and blinked a couple of times in confusion as he looked around. He looked down to see he was still dressed and he felt no pain at all, so maybe that had been an illusion.

It didn't matter because the psychiatrist was crumpled to the floor and Cloud's cell door was wide open. He did what anyone would; he made a run for it. He ran from the cell and down a flight of stairs that led to what appeared to be a circular area. In the middle was a shaft that you could see the bottom of the prison at. He ran around the circle and come to another flight of stairs and quickly went down them. He come to another circular area identical to the last and started running around it.

Just as he was almost to the next flight of stairs, his vision started to swim and everything had an odd green hue to it. He shook his head and saw he was on the circular stairs leading down to the basement of Shinra Manor. He blinked in confusion. If he was in Shinra Manor shouldn't he be going up the stairs to get away from Hojo and not down? Was this an illusion and he was still in the prison and needed to continue down? He didn't know and his head was starting to ache. He took a breath and tried to figure out what he needed to do. Seeing as the scenery was staying the same, he turned and started running back up the stairs.

Hojo or not, Cloud wanted to get away from anyone with a lab coat as quickly as possible and he knew the basement was where the quack stayed. He continued until he was out of the corridor and into the bed room where the secret passage door led to. He was about to leave the room when two guards come in. These weren't Shinra guards though. They were D-District Prison guards. Cloud almost wanted to laugh hysterically. This was insane. Maybe he was insane after all. He didn't care though. He still wanted out of this place and he was going to regain his freedom if it meant going through these guards.

He was in no way near as good as Tifa at martial arts, but he'd picked up a little from her in their travels. He ran at them, then at the last moment, hit the floor in an attempt to sweep kick the nearest guards feet from under him. The move worked and the guard fell as Cloud jumped back to his feet and sent the heel of his hand at the bottom of the other guard's nose. This sent the bones of the guard nose up and into his brain, killing the guard instantly. Cloud started to run, but his ankle was grabbed by the first guard and thrown up to cause Cloud to trip and fall to the floor, banging his chin. He rolled over to jump up and face the guard, but before he could even get rolled over completely, the guard was on him.

The two struggled for a moment, rolling around on the floor. The guard finally ended up on top of Cloud and pinned his arms to the floor by his wrists, then headed butted Cloud hard in the face with his helmeted head. Cloud yelped as blood come from his damaged nose, but the pain only made Cloud angry and he was finally able to throw the guard off of him. Cloud moved and punched the guard a couple of times forcing him back. The guard stumbled until he fell through the door to the passage way and then fell down the shaft in the center, down to his death thirteen stories down.

Cloud blinked as he watched the man fall and saw that he was once more in the D-District Prison. He grabbed his head and stepped away from the shaft. He wanted these strange transitions to stop. He couldn't tell when or where he was and it was making escape impossible. He groaned and dropped his hands to his sides, then reached up to wipe the blood from his face where his nose was bleeding. Cursing his luck some, he turned only to have a nightstick slam against the side of his head knocking him out cold.

He awoke to find himself strapped into a strange cross shaped indention in a wall. The psychiatrist and some of the guards were walking around just under where he was strapped and talking in hushed tones. The psychiatrist looked up to see that Cloud was awake. Cloud could see a large bruise on the side of the psychiatrist's face along with some tape around the earpiece to his glasses on the same side of the face Cloud had punched.

"Mr. Strife, I'm glad to see you're awake. Today seemed like a good day to start some treatment for you." The psychiatrist explained.

"Treatment? What kind of treatment is given to someone held to a wall?" Cloud asked skeptically.

"Electroshock therapy. The machine you're in was once used for interrogations. It's been calibrated for use as a therapy tool." The psychiatrist said.

"Looks to me like you just want revenge for that bruise and broken glasses I gave you." Cloud said with an annoyed tone.

The psychiatrist gave Cloud an almost amused look before nodding some and saying, "Perhaps."

"You're a quack. You're not here to help anyone. You're only here to get a paycheck. You get some kind of thrill off of hurting others. I can see that now. You can't stand to get bested by someone else. I may be crazy, but at least I'm not a vindictive bastard." Cloud growled back.

The psychiatrist made a "humph" sound before motioning to the guards to start the "treatment".

The electricity entering his body had his muscles contracting and spasming causing him to clinch his teeth so he wouldn't cry out. As each electric shock was given at longer periods of time, they were finally able to get a strangled cry from him. Then the last shock, which seemed like the tenth, caused him to scream the entire time. What seemed like hours passed before he finally fell unconscious.

The Sorceress grinned as she stood up from where her host had been sleeping. The time to strike was now. She had just been to see Cloud and get more energy from him which was easy now that he was strapped down to his bed in his cell. His escape attempt causing the guards to not want to take any chances. After getting her fill, she had used the magic to get back to the garden and then lay down for a few moments. She wanted to make sure Squall was completely asleep. Once she was sure, she took control of her hosts body and started to change it's appearance into her own. Now with the high amount of Mako energy from Cloud, she could make this body her own. She walked over to where Squall had his gunblade leaning against a table, and picked it up. She then walked over to Squall and stood just above him.

"It's finally time for me to do what I should have from the beginning, rid myself of the SeeD that has gotten in my way." She said with a grin as she raised the gunblade over her head and started to bring it down on the head of Squall Leonheart.

Next: Chapter 3: Rescues


	4. Rescues

**Temporal****Storm**

**Chapter 3**

**Rescues**

Squallwas awoken by a voice in his head calling his name. At first it was almost too hushed for him to make out, then it started to get louder and pleading until it was an almost scream. The last one was what had him fully awake enough to just roll and dodge his own weapon as it was swung down towards his head. His attacker cursed and stepped back. She dropped the gunblade and put a hand to her head.

"Shut up! You made me miss!" Squall's attacker hissed. "You should not even be conscious! Hurry up and fade away!"

He knew that voice. It was impossible though. It's owner should be dead. He jumped out of bed and dove for his weapon. He then stood and looked around the room. Not seeing Rinoa caused him to start panicking, although he didn't show it on his face or in his stance.

"Ultimecia! Where is Rinoa!?" Squall exclaimed.

A dark laugh come from Ultimecia as she stood straight and looked at Squall with delight. She then put one of her oddly long fingered hands on the bare part of her chest.

"She is in here. We are one now. I am she….and she is me." She almost purred.

"No! You're lying!" he growled.

"Look for yourself. Do you see her? Wasn't she with you when you fell asleep? Wasn't it her voice that woke you from your slumber? Savor those words you heard. It will be the last time you hear her voice…ever. Soon she will fade away and this body will belong to me alone." She explained.

"Then….Cloud was telling the truth! He wasn't crazy, just confused! You were using Rinoa to go to the infirmary at night." He growled.

It all made sense now. He had thought that the man had just finally snapped, but it turned out, Cloud was trying to protect himself thinking Rinoa was the sorceress.

"Very good. Maybe you're not as stupid as you look. I'll return later for you. I see now that I will have to get rid of this girl before I can rid myself of all of you SeeD." She said.

"We beat you before! What makes you think we can't beat you now!?" he exclaimed.

"I have a new power source now. It's more than enough to handle you all. I was careless this time, thinking I could kill you so quietly and easily. I won't make that mistake again." She said before disappearing.

"Wait! Ultimecia! Come back!" he yelled, but it was too late.

The sorceress was gone, and she had hijacked Rinoa's body.

**VII/VIII**

He was strapped down to the cot in his room by strong leather binds that was chaffing his arms as he tried to twist and turn to get free. Not that he was doing too much of that. He was still feeling rather numb from his shock treatment and was also sedated. Any movements he made were really just small twitches and twists as he tried to get his body to obey him and struggle for freedom. He let out a weak groan before just laying still. He stayed like that for what felt like hours as the feeling slowly started to come back. The tingling and pins and needles feel was moving up his body as his nerves woke up.

He was starting to get use to the unpleasant feeling when he felt something else moving up his body. It wasn't until it was moving up his chest that he understood it to be a hand. It moved from his chest, to his neck where it caressed the skin almost tenderly. It moved on up to his cheek and gently turned his head so he could look into the cold golden eyes of the sorceress.

"Y…you." He managed.

"It seems that my plan has backfired. I had tried to kill the SeeD while he slept, but the stubborn girl refuses to fade away. I need a boost of energy." She said as he eerily long fingers reached his hair and began to play with a long strand of it.

She moved her mouth close to his and started to draw out energy from him. After five or so minutes, she pulled away. She watched him with a small look of amusement as he seemed to reel even though he was strapped down. His eyes had nearly rolled to the back of his head and he was panting for breath. After a few moments he was back to semi normal though still panting for breath.

"You've been so useful so far. You were once the puppet of a man. Now you will be my puppet." The sorceress said as her hand moved from his hair and back down to caress his cheek.

Her hand traveled back down his neck causing Cloud to shiver a little, before stopping at his chest. She pulled her hand back a little causing her nails to rake across the fabric of his shirt before stopping when the tips of her nails ended up pressed right in the middle of his chest. Dark purple and black energy seemed to pool around her finger tips and mover down to make a small puddle like on Cloud's chest. The sorceress smirked as she drove her hand into the puddle sharply, getting a grunt from Cloud. She made a quick movement that caused the blond to feel pain to the very core of his soul. He let out a piercing cry of pain as Ultimecia pulled her hand back out. The puddle disappeared revealing no blood or wound. Though, in the Sorceress' hand was a small red glowing orb.

"The red materia is summon, right? I have created my own. I will call it Cloud. You will be at my beck and call, day or night no matter what. You will have no choice, just as the creatures you have summoned have no choice. I find this fitting, no?" she asked with a chuckle as she manifested a gold chain to attach to the materia.

She then put the chain around her neck and wore the materia like a necklace. She smiled at the pendent and held her hand to it looking every bit like a young woman with a new favorite piece of jewelry. She then surprised Cloud by moving to actually kiss him in a deeply passionate kiss. While she was distracted, he felt something. A small touch to his mind. His mental state had never been that great and he doubted he had any kind of mental abilities, but still he tried to touch whatever it was back with his own mind. When he did, it was like something grabbed on to him for dear life.

When the Sorceress ended the kiss and pulled away, whatever had latched onto Cloud was left with him. Ultimecia didn't seem to notice it's absence though. She only licked her lips and let out a dark chuckle before disappearing. Cloud was left alone in the room and trying to figure out what had seemed to have attached it's self to his mind. After a moment or two, it seemed to fade, but a calmness come over his soul letting him know that whatever it was, was still there.

"_Help. Help me. Please. Help me help Squall." _An almost tiny voice said inside his mind.

It was small and feminine and though he didn't know how, he knew who it was. It was a small fragment of the woman who used to own the body Ultimecia now controlled. It was all of the woman that could escape from the sorceress to keep itself from fading out of existence.

"I…I can't." Cloud murmured.

"_Please…please…"_

**VII/VIII**

"You want us to do what!?" the psychiatrist exclaimed as he looked at the Balamb Garden Commander as if he'd lost his mind.

It was mid day, hours from when Ultimecia had tried and failed to kill Squall and then had visited Cloud. Squall had spent all morning getting things taken care of for Cloud to be released back to him.

"I want you to release Cloud. He's not crazy. At least he was right about the sorceress. A sorceress has appeared and she's taken over the body of Rinoa Heartilly." Squall explained.

"He may have been right about that, but the man is clearly disturbed." The psychiatrist said.

"I'm the one who admitted him, so now I want to let him out." Squall said with growing annoyance.

"As his psychiatrist, I have to say that I don't think that's a good idea." The doctor said as he started to size Squall up a little.

"Really?" Squall asked as he put his hand on the hilt of his gunblade.

"Yes, but as you said, it is up to you I guess. As long as you have the proper paper work." The psychiatrist said after clearing his throat.

Squall nodded and pulled some folded papers from his pocket and handed them to the man.

"Everything's signed. I'll wait here for you to bring Cloud down." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The psychiatrist nodded and left the room grudgingly. He hadn't wanted to let Cloud go. He was still pissed at the blond for punching him in the face and making the comment about him being a quack. There was nothing he could do about it though. Squall had gone through the right channels and gotten the right papers signed, so Cloud would be set free or at least be put in Squall's custody.

**VII/VIII**

"Are these yours?" Squall asked as he held out a bag to Cloud.

Cloud was leaning against the wall of his cell still weak from all he'd been through. He took the bag from Squall carefully and looked inside. His bangles and pauldron (metal shoulder armor) were in the bag. Cloud just nodded and took them out, then started to put them on in their rightful places.

"Thanks…" he murmured.

"Do you know where she went?" Squall asked.

He wasn't going to waste time. He was going after Ultimecia as soon as possible. He knew Cloud understood who he was talking about and wouldn't have to worry about having to explain who he meant.

"No. She didn't tell me anything." Cloud responded.

"Let's go. The others are waiting outside." Squall said as he turned and headed out of the cramped cell with Cloud right behind him.

As they walked through the area Cloud had tried to escape through, he had half expected the area to change like it had before, but nothing happened. Everything stayed the same though and he heaved a small sigh of relief. He could hear guards talking to one another as they passed. They couldn't believe Balamb was reclaiming the psycho that they had committed not too long ago. They were also talking about the psychiatrist who was going to appeal the decision and try to get Cloud back into custody. The blond was a dangerous psycho who didn't need to be walking around free to harm others. Or so they'd heard. Cloud decided to ignore them the rest of the way down. There was no point in listening to babbled nonsense.

As they come to another flight of stairs, Cloud looked up from his brooding to see what looked like a small aura coming from the floor right next to the stairs. Cloud walked over to it to examine it. He'd never seen anything like it and could feel an energy coming from it. Squall noticed that Cloud had stopped and walked over to where he was.

"What are you doing? You act like you've never seen a draw point before." He said in exasperation.

"I haven't. What's it do? What do you draw from it?" he asked as he looked at Squall.

"Well it looks like you can draw shell from this one." He grumbled.

"Shell? What kind of spell is that? A type of protection?" Cloud asked.

" protects from some magic attacks. What? You want to draw from it or not? If you do, hurry up." Squall said impatiently.

"How do you draw from it?" Cloud asked.

"Are you serious?" Squall asked. When he got a blank look from Cloud, he sighed and answered, "You hold your hand to it and pull the magic into your body." Squall answered.

He was getting tired of Cloud's questions and wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. The guards were now staring at them both and it was irritating him to no end. What was worse was the unsure look Cloud had given him for a moment that reminded Squall of some kid. He sighed and demonstrated how to use the draw point before then stepping aside.

"There. Now you try." He commanded.

Cloud nodded and stepped forwards to use the draw point. Energy come from the draw point and began to gather right under Cloud's hand. It didn't disappear like it had with Squall though. It formed a small ball of green light that started to form into a crystal. Squall stared in surprise while several guards started to move closer to get a better look. Cloud gasped and snatched his hand back knowing that that was not what had happened when Squall had drawn from the point. The crystal fell to the hard metal floor and rolled until it stopped against Squall's boot. Squall slowly picked the crystal up and looked at it carefully. He then held it out to Cloud.

"I don't even want to know how you did that or why." He said.

Cloud took the crystal and shrugged.

"It's materia. I don't know how I did that either. It's not something that I've ever done." He mumbled.

He held out his arm and equipped the materia into one of the slots on his bangle.

"What are you doing with it?" Squall asked.

It was his turn to ask twenty questions.

"Equipping it. It may come in handy later." Cloud responded.

"You mean junctioning it." Squall corrected.

"If I had meant that I would have said that. Didn't you say your friends were waiting?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah. Fine. Let's go." He said as he started walking again and Cloud started to follow.

The guards had something new to talk about now. The psycho may also be a sorcerer. This little bit of gossip spread quickly like wildfire around the prison.

**VII/VIII**

They were almost to the floor that they needed to be on to leave the prison when Squall first heard it. It sounded like water filling something up. It got louder and louder until a green glowing substance rushed up from the stairwell and from the shaft in the middle of the building.

"No way!" Cloud yelled as he saw what the substance was.

Liquefied Mako. The same stuff he'd seen in some of his "hallucinations" during his stay in the prison. The same stuff that had been in the tube he'd been in during said hallucinations. He looked around and noticed that the walls seemed to be melting into the stuff. At first he thought he was hallucinating again, but when he saw Squall also watching, he knew he wasn't. He and Squall started back up the stairs they had just come from, watching in horror as some of the guards were swept away by the rising Mako. The two continued to run until Cloud heard a rumbling and looked up. What he saw almost caused his jaw to drop. The top of the building had liquefied into Mako and was now falling right towards them. He looked at Squall who had also stopped running, then pointed a hand at the younger man.

"Shell!" Cloud exclaimed.

A magic transparent ball formed around Squall just as the Mako hit them. Squall was thrown around inside the ball and almost knocked silly as the Mako churned as if inside some sort of vortex. After a few moments, the Mako calmed down and Squall could see Cloud trying to swim through the liquid towards him. It was a good thing that the walls had turned into Mako or else Cloud would have been crushed against the metal of the building as the Mako had been churning. Cloud reached Squall and began to push the shell towards what had been a wall. They could see through it to the outside. Cloud hoped this meant that they could push through it to the outside world. Squall tried to help by leaning in that direction. It was slow going and Squall was starting to wonder how Cloud hadn't started drowning yet, when the older man started to gradually slow down. His eyes were starting to glow more than usual and they had a slight green tinge to them.

They glowed intensely for a moment as Cloud stopped pushing the shell and started to sink. The shell started to leak and flicker. Then the Mako started to churn again before violently exploding outwards and throwing everyone who had been inside it out. Lucky for Squall, the shell broke his fall, and rolled to a stop before breaking near the Ragnarok. Quistis and Zell run over to check on their commander who was picking himself up off the ground and staggering a little.

"What the hell happened!?" Zell exclaimed as he looked at the remains of the D-District Prison.

"I don't know. All of a sudden the prison filled with that green liquid, then it seemed to explode outwards." He said as he shook his head a little.

He then started to look around.

"Where's Cloud?" he asked.

"I didn't see him." Zell answered.

The three started to look for the blond quickly. The people who had been thrown out could be found in various states. The building had solidified back to metal as soon as it had exploded raining down broken and twisted metal. Some unlucky guards and inmates were sliced or otherwise impaled. A few were lucky to die from the high fall while a few only suffered from broken bones and lay moaning or screaming. A few unlucky had burning scraps laying on them, roasting them or pinning them down. There were even those who had lost limbs or even larger parts of their bodies. Some looked dazed and pale almost reminding Squall of Cloud's condition when they had found him originally. Quistis stopped her search for Cloud and went to go make a call for some help. The surviving people needed medical attention fast.

As Squall and Zell continued their search, Squall found the psychiatrist. The man was panting from pain as it looked like his body had been broken in almost every possible way.

"It was…it was his fault. He did this… He did this to punish us!... For what we did! I told you! I told you he was disturbed…I had…no idea he was a sorcerer too. Now look…I'm…I'm going to die and it's all your fault…you let him out…" the psychiatrist babbled.

"You're wrong. Cloud didn't do this." was the only thing Squall said before continuing his search.

"Squall! Over here! I found him!" Zell called from not too far away.

Squall quickly jogged over to where Zell was knelt by Cloud. The blond was awake but seemed to be dazed. His eyes were letting off a little more glow than they had, but it seemed to be going back to normal as he started to come around.

"Uh…unng…Wha…What happened?" he asked a little groggily.

"The building turned into green liquid." Squall summed up quickly.

"Mako…" Cloud murmured.

"What?" Squall asked.

"T…Told you…that spell would come in handy…" Cloud said as he slowly started to stand up and ignored Squall's question. "Where's your air ship? I have a feeling we need to get out of here quickly."

"Why? What do you think is going to…" Zell didn't get to finish as there were screams from many of the guards and inmates who were alive but pinned or badly wounded.

Squall, Zell, and Cloud turned to see what was causing it. What they saw was a large monster rising from the crater where the prison had once been. It's bulbous octopus like head emerging first revealing several sets of eyes and tentacles where it's mouth should have been. It started sending these out and grabbing the wounded people before pulling them into the hole under the tentacles. In this hole was many razor sharp teeth that it used to rip and shred the people. Tentacles flew at Zell, Squall, and Cloud, but the three jumped out of the way quickly.

Squall and Zell began to fire magic attacks at it while Cloud stood back. He had no weapon and no magic so he could not help in this. He watched the other two men go to work on the monster, doing little damage at first. They were soon joined by Quistis and Selphie though and later a man Cloud recognized as Irvine. Quistis would cast several different spells while Selphie would get in for close attacks with her weapon. Irvine fired shots from his rifle using different kinds of weapons and Zell dodged tentacles while getting in close with his fists. Squall hacked at tentacles as they tried to attack his friends. The tentacles started to try and bat him away but ere finding that they were becoming fewer in number.

The group almost had the monster on the ropes when it cast a wind spell that knocked everyone back. Squall hit the ground and lost hold of his gunblade. Cloud took the chance to move and grab the weapon. He then swung it over his head before bringing the point into the ground. Several small meteors rained down from the sky to hit the monster. While it was distracted, it gave the others time to charge in and redouble their efforts.

As Squall stood back up, Cloud threw him back his weapon and continued to watch. Squall charged in and started to hit the monster with his hardest attacks, finishing off with quick sword strikes that ended with him firing off the gun part of the weapon and ripping a gaping hole in the creatures head. Even with the wound, the monster tried to continue, but Squall and his comrades defeated it shortly after, leaving a smoking mess to fall back into the crater. Selphie, Zell, and Irvine cheered while Quistis smiled, but tried to catch her breath. Squall had turned and was walking towards Cloud.

"What was that you did back there?" Squall asked.

"Meteor Rain. Sorry. I got frustrated just standing around watching." He said shrugging.

"I'm starting to wonder if maybe you aren't really a sorcerer." Squall said as he crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Cloud for a moment.

"Then you don't think I'm crazy anymore?" Cloud asked.

"No. I still think you're crazy." He said, and Cloud thought he almost saw a smirk, but it was gone in a blink, "But I don't think you're dangerous to any of us."

Cloud nodded a little and gave an almost smile back, and then looked past Squall at the others. His eyes went wide just as Selphie could be heard screaming.

"S…Squall! Quistie just disappeared!" she yelled as she pointed to where Quistis had been.

What was left were little wisps of light that soon disappeared. The remaining five began to look around for the woman but saw no sign of her. Cloud stopped looking after a few minutes and seemed to be staring off into space.

"Hey! That's not helping! Come on!" Zell called as he walked over to the shorter blonde.

"Ultimecia has stolen Quistis' time. She must have used her time magic to go back and somehow kill Quistis in the past or otherwise made it where she wasn't born. She'll keep doing it until you are all gone." Cloud murmured.

He then went wide eyed and slapped his hands over his mouth.

Zell blinked a little, the voice Cloud had spoken in wasn't his. It was far too soft and feminine. It did sound a lot like…

"SQUALL!" Zell nearly screamed to get the commander's attention.

Squall ran over to see what was wrong with Zell thinking he may be disappearing now. Seeing that his friend was fine, he was about to b-rate him for acting stupidly. He didn't get the chance though as Zell started to gesture towards Cloud.

"Ri…Rinoa's in there!" he exclaimed.

"In where?" Squall asked in confusion.

"In there….THERE! In Cloud! She just spoke!" Zell babbled.

"Did you hit your head during the fight?" Squall asked.

"It's only a fraction of her." Cloud said as he put a hand to his chest. "She got inside of me somehow the last time I was visited by the sorceress."

He looked at Squall and Zell and shook his head.

"We don't have time to talk about this though. We need to find that woman. We have to stop her from whatever it is she's trying to do." Cloud said in a determined voice.

Zell and Squall both nodded in agreement. They then went to get Selphie and Irvine so they could regroup on the airship.

**VII/VIII**

"Who shall I take next." She murmured as she watched the others board the airship. "The last girl? The cowboy maybe? Or go for the annoying one."

Ultimecia smiled as she plotted. Her plans were going well for now. Once she had disposed of all the SeeD members, she would be able to compress time with no one to stop her. She looked at her next target and smiled. Take away the ones that others lean on for support and the others would come tumbling down. As for the Commander, she had a special treat for him. She stroked the red pendent she wore on a chain around her neck and grinned. It would be a spectacular show. She would enjoy watching it before making the world hers.

**VII/VIII**

Next Chapter 4: Running Out Of Time


	5. Running Out of Time

**Temporal****Storm**

**Chapter 4**

**Running Out of Time**

Selphie had finally calmed down enough to pilot the Ragnarok back towards Balamb Garden. She was still sniffing every now and then, but knew she had to keep it together or risk killing the rest of them. Squall, Cloud, and Irvine were sitting in some seats not far behind Selphie. Each man seemed to be deep in his own thoughts. Zell had gone to the back saying he had remembered something and had yet to return. After a few more long moments of silence, Irvine finally looked at Squall.

"What are we going to do? We have to find a way to bring Quistis back. There's got to be a way. It's not like she died. She just disappeared." He said.

The last part was more aimed for Selphie who had been devastated by Quistis' disappearance.

"I don't know yet. I'm thinking about what our next course of action should be. Right now we need to regroup." Squall responded flatly.

He wanted to yell at Irvine and tell the other man he didn't know anymore than he did. He didn't have all the answers and was doing the best he could. He opted to stay quiet though. Another heavy silence fell over the small group. Nothing but the muffled roar of the engines could hear for a while. It didn't last long though as a scraping noise could be heard. It was metal on metal, but was almost like nails on a chalk board having even Selphie wanting to cover her ears in pain. After a few agonizing minutes, Zell come in dragging a ridiculously large sword behind him.

"Ugh….I don't think it could be…but is this yours, Cloud? We found it near you when we found you a couple of weeks ago." He said as he nearly dropped the Buster Sword.

Cloud stood and walked over to Zell where he could take the hilt from the other man and lifted the sword easily.

"Yeah. Thanks." He murmured as he swung the sword over his shoulder to attach it to his back.

Everyone stared at him for a moment. Zell finally voiced what everyone was thinking.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" Cloud responded back.

"How did you pick it up so easily? How is it staying attached to your back like that?" he asked with wide eyes.

"It's not that heavy when you get use to it. As for how it's on my back, the metal piece is a magnet." He said with a shrug.

The others just continued to look at him for a moment. Squall was the first to shrug and look back out the window near him. Zell was about to sit down when they started to hear another strange metal on metal noise. Everyone but Selphie started to look around. She was too busy trying to figure out why the controls were starting to act funny. The airship seemed to jerk causing Cloud and Zell to fall over and slide towards the front of the ship. Squall and Irvine had been buckled in so they didn't have to worry about the sudden jerk.

"Hey, Selphie! What are you doing!?" Zell asked as he and Cloud started to get to their feet.

"I don't know. The controls are starting to act funny!" she exclaimed.

There was a metal groaning sound before the ship jerked again. Cloud grabbed on to a nearby seat to keep him from being thrown, but Zell ended up against the console of the airship.

"Ow! Get control of this thing!" Zell growled as he rubbed the back of his head.

He got into the co-pilot seat and started to see if he could help. While he was doing that, more metal groaning and scraping could be heard from the ship it's self. Cloud began to look around, feeling something off, and then spotted something odd. It was like a reddish brown rash that appeared and started to grow across the sealing of the ship.

"The ship's rusting." He said calmly.

Squall looked at Cloud having barely heard him, then looked in the direction the shorter man was looking. He saw the patch of rust spreading and quickly undid his seat belt.

"We need to abandon ship." He said.

"What?" Irvine asked as he started to undo his own seat belt.

"We need to abandon ship now!" Squall exclaimed. "Everyone get a parachute!"

Irvine ran to the back and soon returned with five parachutes. Selphie and Zell got up from where they were and quickly made their way to where the others were. By now the ship was shaking badly. Lights were going on and off as a siren sounded. Squall, Zell, and Cloud took the parachutes from Irvine and were putting them. Irvine, then turned to help Selphie get her's on. He turned and held the straps so she could slip her arms in when his hands suddenly become transparent and the parachute fell to the floor with a loud thud. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

"Irvine! No! Not you too!" Selphie cried.

"Heh…Don't worry about me. Just get out of here!" he said.

Worry was on his own face as he looked down through his own hands.

"No! I'm not leaving without you!" Selphie said.

"Don't be stupid. Go on! You don't have time!" he warned her.

He looked at her and gave her one of his best grins.

"I'll be back. Squall will bring me and Quistis back." He said.

Selphie was about to protest again when Cloud grabbed her around the waist. As she kicked and screamed, he walked over to the door that Squall had now opened at the back of the ship. Making sure his grip on the girl was good, Cloud jumped from the ship, taking the kicking, screaming, and sobbing Selphie with him. He was soon followed by Zell and then Squall who stayed behind to watch Irvine completely disappear. After all, if the man had just been flickering, Squall didn't want to leave him to be incinerated in the blast from the Ragnarok crashing.

Once they were on the ground, they watched the Ragnarok hit the ground far enough away that they didn't even feel the heat from the explosion. Selphie was still crying and had taken to clinging to Squall. She had yelled and cursed at Cloud after they landed on the ground. She kicked and punched him, but got little more than some small flinches before Zell and Squall landed and she run to be comforted by their commander.

Cloud watched the three for a moment before sighing.

"Now what?" he murmured.

No one said anything as they stood their feeling lost and helpless.

**VII/VIII**

The sorceress looked down at her handy work. The boy was dead at her feet. His small heart having been ripped out easily by her sharp fingers. She turned to look at the three remaining children and grinned evilly. She reached out and grabbed the remaining female child by her hair and started to pull her close to her.

"Shhhh. Little one. Do not cry. You will see him again very very soon. I will send you to see your dear friend now." She purred as she caressed the child's face.

Then one quick movement later, she tore the child's throat wide open. The two remaining children screamed in complete horror. The sorceress dropped the little girl's limp body to the floor and turned to look at the remaining two. She pointed to the little blonde child who looked on the verge of pissing himself.

"You will be next, Dear One." She said with a soft chuckle.

**VII/VIII**

"Guys…" Selphie's voice stopped the three men ahead of her in their tracks.

It wasn't the word that had them stop so suddenly. It was the way she said it. It come out weak and almost scared. Something neither Zell nor Squall were use to from their friend. Cloud didn't know her well enough, but even he knew it seemed uncharacteristic. The three men turned and looked at her. Zell gasped as Squall moved quickly to the girl's side. She smiled sadly and waved him off. There was no reason to try and touch a person who was no longer tangible.

"Guess it's my turn now…huh?" she asked as she tried to hold back a sob.

"Don't talk like that!" Zell exclaimed.

"No. It's ok…I'll…be with Quistie and Irvine, right?" she asked.

She looked at the three men and tried to put on a brave face. Squall could see in her eyes though, she was pleading for reassurance.

"Yeah. You'll be with them until we bring you all back." Cloud answered surprising Selphie and the other two.

"P…Promise?" she asked.

He gave her a quick nod, and then tapped the side of his head.

"Rinoa says so." He affirmed.

She smiled, though tears run down her face.

"Thank you…" she managed just before she faded away.

Small wisps of multicolored light spiraled away from where she once stood. Zell stood looking stunned and terrified while Squall just looked away. Cloud turned and started in the direction they had been heading since the airship had crashed.

"We should keep moving." He said.

"W…we're next. One of us. Squall or me." Come Zell's voice.

Squall looked at Zell, then started to follow Cloud.

"Don't you get it!? We're just going to fade away!" Zell yelled after the other two men.

"You can stand there and freak out if you want, or you can keep moving and try to find a way to stop it from happening." Cloud responded in his regular monotone without missing a single step.

"It's your fault! If you'd never come and never given energy to that time witch, none of this would be happening!" Zell exclaimed.

He was on the move now, but he was moving quickly towards Cloud. Once he made it to the other blonde, he grabbed the back of his turtle neck and yanked to try and get Cloud to turn and look at him. Once he was successful, he drew back his fist and sent it careening against Cloud's face, causing him to stumble back a little. Cloud stood and wiped the small trickle of blood from his face, then glared at Zell.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Why couldn't you have stayed where ever it is you come from!? Do you spread destruction and despair everywhere you go!?" Zell exclaimed instead of answering.

Cloud seemed taken aback for a moment, then his face went back to it's regular expression.

"Yeah. I do. Now let's go." He murmured before turning and starting to walk once more.

"What!? Wait…!" Zell started.

"That's enough. This is getting us nowhere. Just drop it." Squall said in an authoritative voice.

Zell looked at him, then at Cloud before grumbling and putting his hands in his pockets. He started to follow the other two men quietly.

"I'm sorry, Cloud. I'm just…frustrated." Zell said a while later.

He'd had time to cool off and calm his nerves. Now that his head was clear of his panic, he felt a little bad for lashing out at Cloud.

"Don't worry about it. I understand. That's why I didn't fight back. I think I'd be a little out of sorts if I were going through what you are." Cloud responded without looking at Zell.

"Thanks, man. You're not a bad guy." Zell said.

After that all three men were silent again. They continued through the seemingly endless desert seemingly all lost in their own train of thoughts. It was an hour after Zell and Cloud had last spoken when they noticed something odd. The sun was moving across the sky unusually fast, setting in the west as stars started to shine brightly in almost five minutes flat. The temperature dropped dramatically, not from the setting sun, but due to an unusually quick change of season. Snow began to fall in the middle of the desert.

"What the hell!?" Zell exclaimed.

"Looks like she's toying with us. She's using her time magic again." Squall said with an almost growl like sound in his voice.

"We need to hurry. None of us are dressed for a blizzard." Cloud said as he started to run.

He wasn't sure where they were going, hadn't been since they had started moving from the crashed airship, he just hoped some shelter was close by. Squall and Zell ran quickly behind him. Squall catching up to Cloud as they made their way, or at least hoped they were, out of the desert. The snow started to rise quickly as the area was hit by a blizzard. After a few minutes it stopped abruptly, the sun rose again as quickly as it had set, and the temperatures rose, melting the snow around the three. This change in night and day and season happened again three more times. After the last time, Cloud and Squall both fell to their knees in exhaustion.

"Z...Zell…Are you alright?" Squall called back to his friend.

When he got no answer, he looked over his shoulder.

"Zell?" he asked.

All he saw was wisps flying away into the hot air. He looked back at the ground where he was knelt and slammed his fist into the cracked, parched, and ruined earth.

"We'll get them back." Cloud said as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"We find Ultimecia, we defeat her, and we'll bring them back." Squall said in agreement.

His voice was strained though as he tried to hold back his rising anger. He didn't want to get blinded by rage. It was the last thing any of them needed, especially now. He looked up when he felt someone looking at him and saw Cloud standing in front of him with a hand extended. Squall reached up to take the offered hand, when the ground under him began to shake. He started to get up as Cloud took his hand, but the ground opened up like a hungry mouth. Squall fell back into it, pulling Cloud down with him into the dark abyss. The two men's startled cry blocked out the sound of a soft distant, female chuckle.

**VII/VIII**

Next Chapter 5: Blue and Gray


	6. Blue and Gray

**Temporal****Storm**

**Chapter 5**

**Blue and Gray**

Cloud groaned as he woke up. He didn't know where he was, he only remembered falling and holding onto Squall's hand as they fell together. He snorted at that weird thought, then sat up and started to look around for the younger man. He didn't see him anywhere. In fact, he didn't see anything that he recognized. Even his clothes were all wrong. He was wearing a strange blue outfit that appeared to be a uniform of some sort. A dark blue single breasted frock coat coming down to mid thigh covered his top half while dark blue cotton pants covered the rest. He wore a pair of dark boots on his feet and a pair of white gloves on his hands. He reached a hand up and took something off his head that looked like a hat that had been smashed. After setting the hat back on his head, he slowly stood up to get a better look at himself, blinking in confusion. He looked around a little more, then sighed with relief when he found his buster sword. Now if he could only find Squall.

He looked around his surroundings to get his bearings and maybe an idea on where to go to find Squall. He was in a forest area that was blanketed with light snow. It wasn't freezing cold, but there was a chill in the air. It was just enough for him to see his breath when he breathed out. It was evening and the sun must have just gone down casting everything into a twilight shadow. Looking at the ground, he seen no tracks to indicate anyone had walked off or been dragged away, so this would make tracking Squall even more hard. He looked around once more, and then started off to his right where he thought he could see a camp fire not too far away. Cloud moved quickly, yet quietly, not wanting to give away his position just yet.

As he got closer, he could hear some talking and laughter from the camp ground. Metal plates were clattering as someone put them away after having had a meal. Crude jokes and songs were passed back and forth while others talked quietly about more sentimental matters like their families or sweethearts. The scene was almost inviting, but Cloud wasn't fool enough to walk over to a group of men he didn't know in a strange place he was quite certain didn't exist in his world or the one he had been in with Squall and the others.

"…just a boy with a scar across his face." Cloud heard a man say causing him to listen carefully to the conversation.

"Confederate?" another man asked the first.

"Yeah. Found him wondering around like he was lost. If that's the best the Rebel's got, then we shouldn't be fighting too much longer," laughed the first.

"Did he put up much of a fight?" the second man asked.

"He tried. He was a tough little cuss. He had some strange weapon that kind of looked like a sword and a gun," said the first.

The second one laughed before replying, "That's called a bayonet, Chuck."

"No! This wasn't a bayonet. It looked like a sword. The whole thing did almost. It had the chambers of a gun on it and the handle too, but the rest of it looked like a broad sword." The first man, Chuck, explained.

"Sounds different. I wonder where he got something like that." The second man murmured.

"Dunno. He won't talk. He hasn't said a word since we brought him in." Chuck said.

Cloud waited to see where they were keeping this boy they were talking about. From the description, he knew it was Squall. He was sure they were about to tell the location when he heard a cocking noise behind him.

"What are you? Some kind of spy?" a voice asked behind him.

Cloud cursed under his breath as he sat the Buster Sword down and raised his hands to show he was no longer armed. He then slowly stood up.

"No. I got separated from…my unit. I wasn't sure if this was a… camp of comrades or enemies…so I was just making sure." Cloud lied.

He hoped the guy bought it. The last thing he needed was a hole in the back of his skull.

"What's your name and rank?" the man behind him asked.

"Cloud Strife. SOILD…um…Infan…trymen?" he asked the last part, though he wasn't trying to.

"Cloud Strife? What kind of dumb name is that?" the man behind him barked out a laugh. "It's too stupid to be a lie. Even a spy could come up with better than that. Alright, and you're infantry you said? Yeah. That's about right. Your uniform says it all."

The man un-cocked his gun and holstered it as Cloud turned around. He looked this new comer up and down. He was dressed similar to Cloud, only his coat was a little different with a few medals showing he was a higher up. He was a lot older than Cloud with a graying full beard and mustache. His dark blue eyes were almost too dark to tell their color in the evening light.

"Heh. You're just a kid. Yeah. You're not a spy at all. Well, come on into camp. We can get you warmed up and get you something to eat if you want." The man said with a shrug.

Cloud nodded and followed the man into the camp.

"Who do you got there, Bryans?" Chuck called from where he still sat talking with his buddy.

"Lost kid. Name's Strife." He said with a chuckle.

"His parents had a sense of humor." Chuck called back with an uproarious laugh.

If from listening to the man earlier hadn't made Cloud like Chuck before, he really didn't like him now. It wasn't just that the man was laughing at him. It was that the man just rubbed him the wrong way. Or at least Cloud kept telling himself.

"I was telling Andrews here about the kid we caught earlier. Someone leave a play pen open somewhere?" Chuck asked as Cloud and Bryans walked over to where Chuck and his friend, Andrews was sitting.

Cloud could see the two men better now. They wore uniforms identical to his, but they also appeared older. Chuck had a dark brown full beard and mustache that looked like it would soon be lightning from age. His eyes were a muddy brown that didn't even seem to shine back light from the fire. His friend Andrews was clean shaven almost with a very angular face, high cheek bones, and thin lips pressed in a straight line.

"You caught a kid? I don't guess he could have been from my unit." Cloud murmured as if he was talking to himself.

"Not unless you're with the rebels, kid. No. This was a Confederate." Chuck said.

"Guess you took him back to base." Cloud said nodding some.

"Hell no! I'm not walking some idiot kid all the way back to base. He can wait until we all return." Chuck said with a snort.

"Makes sense." Cloud said.

"We're keeping him tied up in a tent over there ." he said waving his hand towards some tents at the other end of camp.

Cloud just nodded as if he wasn't interested. He was invited to sit with the three men and was even given a meal. While he ate, he listened to them talk about things that he had no idea about, further proving to him he was nowhere near his or Squall's homes. Apparently he was in a world where a country was divided and fighting amongst itself. They were split into the Union and the Confederate, also known as the North and South or Yankees and Rebels. He didn't ask anything as he listened to them talk, but continued to try and follow the conversation. He still didn't know what country he was in or what world this was.

He finished his meal and sat the plate aside as the three older men started telling crude jokes. He really wasn't interested in this, but didn't have anywhere else to go that wouldn't look suspicious, so he sat tight. After twenty minutes and the beginning of a small migraine, the men stood up and said their good nights. Bryans pointed a tent out to Cloud and told him he could sleep there. Cloud thanked the man and went into the tent to wait. He would wait until the other men were asleep before going to find Squall. The time seemed to drag on before he was positive everyone but the lookout was asleep.

He quietly got up and left the tent. He made sure that the lookout didn't even see him and stuck to the shadows as he made his way to the three tents that Chuck had pointed to earlier. He peeked into the first one and saw a man sleeping in it so quickly he moved to the next. It wasn't until the third tent that he found Squall. It seemed Squall had already been devising his own plan for escape, because Cloud didn't know what hit him as something heavy and breakable come down on his head knocking him out cold.

**VII/VIII**

Squall looked down at his unconscious comrade and mumbled curses under his breath. Why hadn't Cloud tried to give him some sort of warning he was going to come save him? This was just great. As if this whole little adventure hadn't been bad enough. First he'd woken up in strange clothes and in some forest. Then when he'd found some people to ask where he was, they had attacked him. Something about his uniform being from an opposing army. Next thing he knew, he'd gotten his ass kicked and was tied up in a tent. He'd waited till he was sure they were asleep before he'd gotten himself untied and was about to escape when he heard someone trying to get into the tent. He'd promptly picked up a heavy looking glass and hit the person in the back of the head, only to find out it was Cloud.

"Idiot." Squall grumbled again before kneeling down and shaking Cloud. "Hey…wake up. Come on. We have to get out of here."

A female voice groaned as Cloud slowly sat up. He blinked his eyes revealing that they were now brown instead of mako blue.

"Cloud?" Squall asked in confusion.

"Squall?" Rinoa's voice spoke back nearly causing Squall to jump back in surprise. She rubbed the back of her? his? head before groaning again. "You hit me too hard."

"I hit Cloud too hard. I think. How are you doing that?" Squall asked as he held out a hand to help Rinoa up.

"I don't know. Ewww…it feels weird being a boy." She said as she looked down at the body she now inhabited.

"This whole situation is weird. We need to get out of here first though. Then we can worry about everything else." Squall said.

Rinoa nodded, and then hugged Squall who stiffened up and pulled away a little.

"Rinoa, until your back in your body, please try not to do that." He said.

"Oh…ok." She said looking a little hurt. "I was just glad you're ok. I was worried when Cloud woke up alone."

He sighed and did a quick loose hug back to her, then pulled away.

"I'm fine. Let's go." He said as he snuck out of the tent.

Rinoa followed as quietly as she could. They snuck through the camp and back into the woods, being careful not to make a sound. Once in the woods they started to run and get as far away as possible. Once deep into the forest, Rinoa started panting and stopped to catch her breath.

"Hey wait…I need to rest." She said.

"We don't have time. We need to get more distance. Then we need to find someone friendly and ask where we are." He said.

"We're in another world. Cloud talked to the soldiers who had you and they explained this place. Were in another world in a country that's going through a Civil War." She explained.

Squall nodded. At least Cloud had gotten some good information that they could use. It meant they both needed to ditch the uniforms because either side would identify one or the other as an enemy.

"Alright. We need to get us some more clothes, then find Ultimecia and make her take us back home." He said.

Rinoa nodded in agreement and followed Squall as he started through the woods again. It wasn't long when Squall heard some rustling and stopped walking. He gestured to Rinoa to do the same. She nodded and listened for whatever sound Squall had heard, then turned when she heard a twig break. Behind them stood two soldiers. Rinoa gasped and turned to tell Squall, but found that he was looking at three soldiers who were in front of him. Squall put his hands up as the soldiers pointed their guns. Rinoa did the same, but moved closer to Squall in fear.

"Traitors and deserters. You two are in a world of trouble." Bryans said as he stepped out f the forest. "I knew you acted a little funny, Strife, especially when we mentioned the prisoner. We'd usually take you back home, but I'm taking this personal. You come into my camp and enjoy my hospitality only to betray me by freeing my prisoner."

The man walked over and punched Rinoa hard across the face causing her to fall.

"Hey!" Squall exclaimed. "Don't you dare touch he…him again!"

"Wont. He's knocked out anyway. He sounds like a girl when you hit him. Must have a glass jaw. Went down with one punch." Bryans muttered.

"_You have no idea." _Squall thought to himself.

"Let's move out. We're going back to camp. Bring your friend." Bryans said to Squall before turning.

Several soldiers waited for Squall to pick up Rinoa? Cloud? He wasn't really sure who'd wake up but he figured he'd be able to tell by the eyes once they did. Once he'd picked Cloud up in a fireman carry, he headed back to camp to wait for whatever they had in store for him and his comrade.

_**VII/VIII**_

Next Chapter 6: Escape

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. It was the last semester of college and it was the holidays so everything was crazy this month. I was finally able to finish this chapter though to not the length I'd wanted. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon. Thanks for being patient with me!


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